Reading the author’s note and discovering David is fictional almost felt like a disappointment. I mean I caught myself giggling for the most part and wondering how David might respond to this visceral testimony. I love love too…haha.
Eddy, I’ll confess, I’m oddly touched that you’re disappointed David isn’t real.
But think of it this way, his fictional status just means we can all project our ideal reader onto him. Mine happens to be a man who reads Harry Potter with me.
Thank you for giggling through this with me, and for loving love in all its forms – even the made-up ones. Your response made my day.
Amazing. I do resonate with that deeply. In fact, it brings a story to mind. A few years back, I went on a solo trip to one of the slave castles back in Ghana. I was still in my thoughts, contemplating some of the words the tour guide had spoken. Next thing I knew, I had stumbled into an art store, one of the side attractions at the castle.
I noticed a painting… or should I say, it called out to me, haha. Anyways, I was intrigued, so I asked the artist what message he was trying to convey. Deep down, I was simply looking for an affirmation of what I believed he sought to say.
His answer wasn’t what I expected. He told me the art was inherently meaningless. He wasn’t trying to say anything in particular.
Okay, I was disappointed for a minute. And then I realized I was being silly. Here was a master at work, the evidence speaking for itself, and my naive self completely missed it initially.
All great art is transcendent. And the source of that transcendence is their elusive fluidity of meaning. The same work to a thousand people is a thousand different works. The piece is not trapped in time or context. It’s infinitely many things all at once until an observer steps into the scene. And then one of the myriad possible meanings emerges.
In short, the dream of the artist is that, regardless of who the audience is, they can project themselves onto the work and identify with it.
Thank you for doing the same with your pen, Adeyinka. I guess my disappointment came from an unconscious identification with certain aspects of David. That theological debate context rings a little too close to home.
Thanks for your words as well. You made my day right back.
Reading the author’s note and discovering David is fictional almost felt like a disappointment. I mean I caught myself giggling for the most part and wondering how David might respond to this visceral testimony. I love love too…haha.
Eddy, I’ll confess, I’m oddly touched that you’re disappointed David isn’t real.
But think of it this way, his fictional status just means we can all project our ideal reader onto him. Mine happens to be a man who reads Harry Potter with me.
Thank you for giggling through this with me, and for loving love in all its forms – even the made-up ones. Your response made my day.
Amazing. I do resonate with that deeply. In fact, it brings a story to mind. A few years back, I went on a solo trip to one of the slave castles back in Ghana. I was still in my thoughts, contemplating some of the words the tour guide had spoken. Next thing I knew, I had stumbled into an art store, one of the side attractions at the castle.
I noticed a painting… or should I say, it called out to me, haha. Anyways, I was intrigued, so I asked the artist what message he was trying to convey. Deep down, I was simply looking for an affirmation of what I believed he sought to say.
His answer wasn’t what I expected. He told me the art was inherently meaningless. He wasn’t trying to say anything in particular.
Okay, I was disappointed for a minute. And then I realized I was being silly. Here was a master at work, the evidence speaking for itself, and my naive self completely missed it initially.
All great art is transcendent. And the source of that transcendence is their elusive fluidity of meaning. The same work to a thousand people is a thousand different works. The piece is not trapped in time or context. It’s infinitely many things all at once until an observer steps into the scene. And then one of the myriad possible meanings emerges.
In short, the dream of the artist is that, regardless of who the audience is, they can project themselves onto the work and identify with it.
Thank you for doing the same with your pen, Adeyinka. I guess my disappointment came from an unconscious identification with certain aspects of David. That theological debate context rings a little too close to home.
Thanks for your words as well. You made my day right back.